


Honorary Princess

by AdventurousScientist (Tuiteyfruity)



Series: Mystic Woods [8]
Category: Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede, Mystic Woods, Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Giant/Tiny, Original Character(s), fairytale, farcicle, gianttiny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:48:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22218052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuiteyfruity/pseuds/AdventurousScientist
Summary: inspired by The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, I bring you: The Mystic Woods. Imagine that there are lots of kingdoms like the Enchanted Forest, called Arcane Terrains! And each have Guardians/Monarchs/etc. And thus, we have The Mystic Woods.This is a A Tale of the Mystic Woods (Yonah’s School Days)What you need to know: Yonah HaEsh is a half-giant wizard. but he wasn’t always a wizard! He had to go to school first. Which was a bit tricky given that only humans are allowed to attend. Can he keep his true nature hidden Or will he be discovered!!! Lots of magic, friends, adventure, dragons, and of course, giants!Warnings: NONE
Series: Mystic Woods [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563316
Kudos: 6





	Honorary Princess

—-

The sun always rose bright and early at The Academy of Wizard currently located in Orr, ruled for the past 30 years by His Majesty King Benyamin. It was built into the foot of the tallest mountain in the forested mountain range known as The Pass of the Living Light.

Yonah was glad for the early sun, it woke him long before the rest of the school. Or at least before most of the students and professors, which was important. Since he had to sneak out and sleep in the forest and sneak back without arousing suspicion.

You see. Yonah couldn’t sleep in the bed assigned to him. Literally couldn’t. Not if he wanted to maintain the rouse that he was human.

Because he only half human.

The other half was Giant.

Sure Yonah looked human enough, at least on the outside. Thick dark curly hair, deeply brown eyes, slightly tanned skin, and human proportions. There were a few inhuman features: larger ears and distinctly larger canine teeth, of which he had had two sets. Not terribly noticeable. Only he was also 7 meters tall and still growing!

That was more noticeable. Kinda hard to claim you’re human when nearly 4 times as tall as one.

But ever determined to achieve his dreams, being extremely stubborn, and born into a world of magic and wonder, not being humans wasn’t going to stop Yonah HaEsh. With his father’s help he had enchanted himself so he could reduce to human height. Or nearly. From 7 meters to just over 2. Pushing unnaturally tall, anomalously perhaps, but not inhumanly. Nothing to be done about the teeth, but he discovered that people assumed he had some distant fae ancestry. Which also explained his height. Fairies had massive fangs and were rarely under 2.5 meters tall.

The reason he couldn’t stay in the school at night was the enchantment that reduced his obviously giant height only lasted 3 hours. This was fine when he was awake to reset it before turning back. But if he tried to wake up every three hours at night it would only be a matter of time before he fucked up. Or failed out of school for lack of sleep. Or his roommates just got fed up and started questioning him.

So every night after everyone else has fallen asleep, he sneaks out.

The first night he did so he couldn’t help but imagine his mother telling him she’d told him so! She’d told him that her forest ranger training in stealth walking would come in handy.

After wandering as far as he dared he set up a simple camp, hoping no one followed, and that no one would stumble upon him. So far so good.

Sort of.

Ugh.

He was really hungry. He and a group of friends stayed up late in the library doing homework. He’d been much too tired to try any hunting. Another skill he’d have to admit to his mother wasn’t so useless after all. It was pretty much keeping him alive at this point. Just barely.

Turns out that even when reduced, he still had to eat as much as if he wasn’t. Which was a physical impossibility at his reduced size.

Maybe he’d be lucky and one of his traps would have something this morning.

—-

“Where do you put it all!?” Avshi asked as Yonah got his fourth plate full of breakfast. Not that Avshi knew that. Yonah had gotten to breakfast earlier than anyone else, so he could maximize his intake. He was actually pretty full but that didn’t matter, he’d eaten less than the equivalent to a handful of food. None of his traps had anything more than a rabbit. He’d set his enchantment and went to breakfast. But he couldn’t push it too far or he’d get drowsy, as giants tend to do when they overeat. He mediated this problem by pacing himself.

“You eat so much yet I don’t think you’ve gotten any fatter, if anything you’ve just gotten taller!” Avshi continued, as Yonah took a bread roll from the bowl on the table, but instead of eating it, put it in his hat.

Over the course of his long breakfast he’d been stashing as many bread rolls, hard boiled eggs, and pieces of fruit as he dared into his hat. It wouldn’t hold him until lunch, since what he really needed was to eat a proper meal at his proper size, but it was something. And the professors hadn’t called him out for eating in class.

His friends had. It was inevitable on days he’d been unsuccessful in hunting. Which was unfortunately more often than successful. Yonah chalked it up to the Pass of Living Light being different than The Implausible Mountains. But if he were being honest with himself; he just wasn’t very good at it. Decent yes, but late at night and exhausted from the day at school wasn’t the ideal condition to hunt in. So he’d worked on traps. Which helped a bit.

“I bet the school’s food budget has doubled since you got here,” Avshi just didn’t seem to be done joking today. A few of the others, Micah, Zohar, Ruven, and Daphna, chuckled a bit. Shoshana, Elisheva, and Efratamar did not.

Yonah’s face grew a bit hot. His thick glasses started to fog up, making his panic rise even more. Still he kept eating, he couldn’t afford to let something like his pride make him careless. If he didn’t eat enough he could get cranky. And if he got cranky he could accidentally expose himself. Not as a giant, but as a fire witch.

While Yonah’s mother was a giant, his father was a fire witch. A human of a uniquely magical variety. Uniquely short tempered as well. And when fire witches got mad were known to explode. Literally. Their hair would burst into flames, their eyes turn into condensed stars, and things spiraled out of control from there. Yonah couldn’t blow up so spectacularly, but his hair still sparked, smoked, and glowed at the roots. His eyes would become beacons of bright orange light.

And the problem with that was Fire witches, like giants, were not allowed to attend any institutions of wizardry.

“Doubt it,” said Eli, who didn’t appreciate how Avshi teased Yonah nearly every day.

Just because they were two years ahead! She thought picking on newbies was something left to mundane schools. She felt a bit bad for her friend. Yonah was the largest person she’d ever met! He’d probably been teased his whole childhood for it; he shouldn’t have to deal with it as an adult. Anyways, he probably had fae ancestry. You’d have to eat a lot when that big and that magical! That was how she rationalized it. Her and most of her peers.

Everyone looked at her. She sighed. “I doubt he’s out eating the dragon professor.”

Oh right, everyone nodded. And Yonah’s heart began calm. He’d actually been a bit worried that his eating habits would be noticeable enough to make the administration suspicious.

A pleasant but magically noticeable bell signaled the hour and most of them had classes during the first block. Zohar, and Avshi, who weren’t first years, had somehow all managed to avoid registering any morning classes. They still had places to be and left with the rest of them.

Micah, Shoshana, Daphna, and Efrat had Linguistic Arts, a requirement for all wizards who didn’t already have a strong background in the most popular magical languages. Since Yonah, Ruven, and Eli were fluent, they had been placed in Spell Transcription, where one would take spells originally built in one language and adapt it to several others. Not today though, today was the 2nd of The 3rd*. This morning they had introductory textiles.

*(weeks are 9 days long, two days of work, one day of rest. Three sets of paired work days. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, each with 1st, 2nd, and Prime days. Except for the 1st of the 1st day which is Execution Day, and the 3rd Prime day which is Terminal Day.)

Wizards were responsible for their own wardrobe, and a wizard’s wardrobe was incredibly important. What was the point of becoming a wizard if you were weren’t instantly recognizable as one?!

Right now it was learning basic sewing techniques and tools with and without magic. But eventually they’d be taught how to design patterns and even establish their own unique style that would define them as a wizard.

And it was so much fun. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t like textiles. Relatively easy magic but tricky enough that it was by no means boring, especially with more complex stitches. And the repetition of motions was so relaxing; during the practical portion of class students would usually chat as they worked.

“Don’t let what Avshi says get to you,” Eli said as Yonah retrieved his hat snacks, shoving a half a bread roll in his mouth and shelling an egg.

Yonah shrugged and swallowed his mouthful of bread, “Well, I do eat a lot.”

“That doesn’t make it ok to make fun of you! I can tell you don’t like it!”

Eli was staring strangely at him. There was a weird determination about her, like she was angry that he seemed to just lay down and take the bullying. She didn’t know that he couldn’t let himself get worked up. He had to keep an inner peace. But he was touched all the same.

“It’s just going to get worse! You’re friends now but if this continues and you let it fester it could get ugly.”

Yonah almost choked on the second half of the bread. She was right. And she had no idea how ugly it would really get.

“Should I, em, ask them to stop?” he asked genuinely.

He wasn’t exactly an expert on the social graces of humanity, especially not in school. His father had tried to impart as much information about the average human society before he left for school, but the school environment wasn’t like average human society at all.

Eli made a few stitches manually, thinking hard before answering.

“I think you should tell them it bothers you” she said, “Avshi doesn’t seem to get social cues, they just say what’s on their mind without thinking. If you make it clear it really hurts your feelings they will stop.”

Yonah took a pear from his hat and ate it, then ate a second egg, he really liked eggs. He’d always liked them but as with all foods, smaller was more flavorful. He chewed as he contemplated his next words.

“Ok, I will,” then, after further consideration of human social norms, “thank you, Eli, you’re a good friend.”

She beamed, and hugged him. That was still weird for him, being hugged by someone just slightly smaller than him, but still the same scale; able to properly embrace him. It was always by other giants who could smother him, or smallfolk who couldn’t do much more than cling to whatever spot they chose/could reach.

It was nice.

Was this hug lasting too long? He wasn’t really sure how long humans considered to be appropriate but Eli was human so she should know.

No, this was certainly too long. and Eli was no longer tensing her arms in an embrace, just not letting go.

“Em, Eli? We need to get back to work.”

Eli, a bit startled and broke the hug, looking slightly ashamed.

“Sorry, you’re just really warm.” She returned to figuring out the newest stitch.

Oh… not too warm, he hoped. But he smiled.

On his next egg he dabbed some magically imbued deep mushroom spores and whispered the couplet that would reset his reduction. No one noticed.

Soon class was over, and They were walking to the next. It was of course on the other side of campus.

Yonah had a lot of his classes with Eli. They had both come to the school with a similar level of magical training, while most of their peers in the same year had considerably less, or none at all. The Academy didn’t require any sort of prior training, though it was definitely a point in your favor for admission. This meant that while Yonah and Eli were in classes that covered the beginning basics of wizardry, their friends were in classes that covered even more basic magic.

It was their hardest class. Having to think about magic in an entirely different way, it was amazing, but extremely difficult. It was a deep understanding of building spells from the physical and magical pieces. Yonah wondered why the school bothered with basic magic at all, if it would need to be practically unlearned later. If he was teaching a beginner, it would start with theory, then practice, not the other way around. Or both at the same time! The theory and direct application.

But after that it was lunch (Yonah replenished his snacks), and then the last class of the day for most of them: Staff Training! Only wizards used staves for magic. Building spells specifically to be stored in staves, and constructing the staves themselves to hold magic and spells.

All the first years had this, though not all at the same time of the day/week. All of Yonah’s friends did! Which was why it was a class to look forward to.

They were working with training staves, easy simplified builds from a kit that they were still working on over a month into the quarter! Wizards were the most effective when using a stave they build themself. Sadly reader, I cannot tell you how, since it is a secret of the wizards. All I can say is it starts with a single piece of wood.

“YEOWCH!”

There was a bright shock of light accompanied by a ZAP from the back corner of the workshop. And then fire. The staves were still made of wood, and until fully built, were still flammable.

Professor Katz ran over to the afflicted student, Zachary Piser, taking out their staff, a grand piece of marbled black wood, the white marbling somehow pulled into runic symbols that complimented the crystals and pieces of metal embedded into it. At the top was a mesh cage inside of which were several melded crystals that lit up.

Water manifested in the air and poured over the fire and continued to flow around Zack’s singed hands. After which they were given a salve.

All activity had stopped as they waited for the professor to return to the front of the class with Zack as soon as he was able.

“Tell the class what you were doing prior to the accident,” the professor instructed.

He did so, his hands were even healed enough to draw on the chalkboard.

“Any ideas as to what went wrong?”

Zachary wasn’t in any trouble. He was not being shamed in front of the class. In fact, this was exactly what was supposed to happen. It had happened before to almost all of them and would eventually if it hadn’t. It was a lot of different Magics being worked into many different materials and getting them all to cooperate.

Accidents like these were when the real learning happened. They gained more knowledge from mistakes than from successes. And they were practicing something valuable, troubleshooting and reasoning. With their teacher there to guide them, and a classroom full of support.

Yonah was honestly surprised he hadn’t fucked up yet, given he was half-starved more often than not. And it was getting worse over time. Even with his glasses he was having trouble focusing, his head pounded. Were his hands shaking? His fingers were already ungainly for this type of work; this was bad.

Thankfully this was the last class of the day for Yonah and his friends. Unfortunately, the day was far from over, he was stuck pretending everything was fine and he was definitely not starving despite having eaten enough food for at least five people (without dinner!). Just a few more hours. He could last a few more hours.

But it’s mostly homework and group projects. I don’t want to bore you. So I won’t! I’ll skip to the exciting part. After dinner. After more studying in the library, and a meeting with a peer advisor.

“Good job everyone, you are all getting settled in nicely, let’s meet again in two weeks,” said Samuel, gathering up their notes, joining their mentees as they all left a soundproof library room and headed towards the dormitory towers.

They did hold Yonah back for a second. Physically grabbing his arm to get his attention. Yonah looked down, but through Sam rather than at them.

“You seem a little unfocused, Yonah. Is everything alright?”

Yonah blinked, knowing he couldn’t properly lie to save his life.

“Just… a little tired is all.” he yawned for effect, he didn’t see Sam’s eyes lingering on his inhuman teeth.

“Your roommates say they’ve found your bed empty at night a few times,” Sam looked worried, “Are you pulling secret all-nighters? Are you sure you aren’t struggling in your classes? It’s no shame to get some tutoring. No one expects you to solve everything by yourself. And you know you can take a day for yourself! It won’t hurt your academic standing”

Now it was much easier to lie. All he had to do was smile and nod.

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

It didn’t take long to catch up to his friends, not with the length of his strides; Sam had to jog to keep up. They were heading in the same direction after all, but Yonah was preoccupied.

His tired brain was furiously making plans to attempt a proper night hunt. By the gods if he didn’t have success tonight he would skip classes tomorrow; that was a brilliant suggestion now that he thought about it. He was starting to get a bit on edge from lack of food and he couldn’t push it for much longer. Could he buy food from a local farm? Just like, a cow every week? Would that be noticed? Surely it would. Though it sounded like a great idea if he failed to catch anything. Just once couldn’t hurt. How much did cows cost?

His plans were quashed when a voice called to them.

A deep, rumbling one.

Aside from a few random moments, they had only heard her speak during opening ceremonies, none of them had a class with her but they knew who she was. They all turned around.

Just fitting in the corridor with wings folded tight, the massive blue-green dragon strode confidently towards the cowering humans. She stopped, lowering her head to look right at Yonah. Her bright yellow eyes seemed to stare into him as she breathed steadily in and out, mouth slightly open. The frill at her neck unfolded. It connected to her the two horns on the side of her head the left of which was mangled, the horn broken. It made for a brutal asymmetrical look with her third horn protruding from the center of her snout like a rhino’s.

“He-hello professor, eh,” in the moment Yonah didn’t know her name.

“Professor Xharem.” Her frills fanned out and quivered. “A pleasant evening younglings.” then focused her attention further “Mr. Yonah Ha’Esh? Yes. Won’t you please come with me. I would like to have a word,” her voice rolled like thunder over them all.

The students were kinda taken aback at being called ‘younglings’ since they were all in their late teens and a few of them over 20.

Except for Yonah. Yonah was shaking; the professor knew his name? And had singled him out. This was bad. This was very very bad.

The dragon stepped even closer. Yonah had met dragons before, but always at his normal size. Dragons were much less intimidating when you were head height with one. At his reduced size the dragon was enormous. And Xharem was not a small dragon.

“Forgive me, we cannot see the punctuation. There was no question mark. It was not a request, it was an order, come along Mr HaEsh,” the dragon motioned for him to follow as she turned around.

Yonah felt all the eyes on him but he didn’t dare take his own off of the professor. Someone, his panicking brain couldn’t tell who, nudged him and said “go on”

He walked fast to catch up to Professor Xharem and slowed to keep pace by her side.

“May I ask where we are going?” His voice cracked and his body shook.

The professor didn’t look down at him but answered “my office.”

Yonah didn’t ask any more questions as they walked. Every staircase they encountered they went down. Deeper into the mountain the school was built against, Yonah realized. The walls started to look less angular and became more cave like, but there was still the occasional door.

“Here we are.”

They arrived at a very large metal door, notable since all the other doors had been made of wood. Instead of a door handle it was sealed with a massive bar latch that no normal human could have lifted but Xharem the dragon could. Yonah probably could too, at his normal size. Xharem pushed the door open, taking the latch inside. Yonah followed.

Once inside the door closed and Xharem placed the latch into the hooks inside. Too keep people out? Or to keep him in…

This was a dragon’s cave, and a small cave system judging by the offshoots on the far side. It was also dark, until Xharem spit a little fire at the torches lining the walls. Against the left wall was a table, human height, but long and only one side had chairs. Xharem took her place behind it and lay down. The ceiling was high. It seemed to go on forever.

“Ventilation, for smoke. That way also leads out if I need it,” Xharem said, seeing Yonah staring up.

“This, is your office?” Yonah asked.

“My office, my home, one and the same. Conserves space; I would need a very large office after all. There simply isn’t room in the academy proper, nor money to add on to it” She motioned for Yonah to take a seat at the table.

“I think you know why you are here,” she said, looking him in the eyes, her own glowing faintly in the low light. He didn’t want to make eye contact, but he couldn’t look away. A bit of flame shot out of her nostrils. He flinched at the bright light but didn’t back away, he couldn’t be burned anyways.

Yonah took the opportunity to pull his eyes from hers and look down at his hands in his lap. It was one week into his second month and he was going to be expelled, he had fucked up! He couldn’t hide what he was and he was a fool for trying.

“What are you?”

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

“What. Are. You?” she repeated, hitting each syllable like a whip, “You don’t smell human, but neither do you smell like anything I’ve encountered before, which is incredibly frustrating for one such as myself.”

Yonah didn’t say anything. What was the point.

“Speak, or there will be consequences young man, if a young man is the right word for what you are.”

Yonah took some quick breaths and glanced at his pocket watch. Time was almost up.

“Well, ma’am, I can tell you, or… if you wait a minute, you will see for yourself,” Yonah said.

“See for my-” but she stopped and leaned in so her snout was within an inch of Yonah’s face and took a deep breath, “Your disguise is wearing off.”

“It’s… em, something like that,” said Yonah, standing up and moving to the center of the room. Xharem did not try to stop him.

In a less than grand display, Yonah went from 2 to 7 meters tall. Now he was looking down at the professor, who cocked her head.

“Not what I was expecting,” she said getting up to walk over and around him, sniffing, like he was some curiosity. “Not a giant, too small. Far too small. A half giant?”

“Yes,” said Yonah, still on the verge of tears, but Xharem was not angry.

“How unusual. And yet, there is still magic present, it’s fainter,” she huffed, now facing him, lifting her long neck to match his height. “Can you explain that? Are you still disguised?”

“No ma’am, I don’t know what that -” his eyes widened, how stupid he was! He spent so much effort into hiding the reduction enchantment he hadn’t thought of what else might give him away.

“I am also half firewitch.”

“Really!” said Xharem who took a few paces back. Yonah was worried she had become scared of him but she breathed deeply and her mouth started to glow. Yonah put his hands above his face right before the flames engulfed him. As a half firewitch he wasn’t completely resistant to fire, just all non-magical fire and some mild magical. Dragon fire was very magical. Should Xharem try to burn him… if she increased the heat enough… But Yonah didnt think she was trying to kill him. He felt the heat intensely, more than he normally did. It did not hurt. Not much.

It only lasted for a few seconds. When the fire was gone the professor was in his face again, beaming.

“A firewitch indeed! More unique than a simple half giant. Question: did you develop the reduction spell yourself? How is it done? Can you demonstrate it?”

“Ma’am! I think your behavior it is very inappropriate,” said Yonah, barely keeping it together.

His hair was starting to smolder gently and his eyes were blurring, his glasses fogged up. This was worse than mad; she was belittling him. A dragon of such age, knowledge, and respect, was treating him like a circus sideshow. Probably now that he wasn’t a student anymore, this dragon could really do whatever she wished with him. He would be powerless to stop her.

Xharem froze, her frill fully extended as she processed what Yonah had just said. People, even half giant firewitches, do not accuse dragons of rudeness.

“How dare you talk to your professor in that tone,” she hissed more flames.

Yonah stammered, “I- my professor? I don’t have any classes with you, and,” he started to cry, puffs of steaming tears rose from the corners of his eyes “And now I never will, all I’ve ever wanted was to be a wizard, and now I’m going to be expelled!”

“Expelled? For what, wanting to learn magic?” Xharem moved over to a large cabinet and rummaged around, coming back with a dragon-sized handkerchief. As if on autopilot Yonah took it.

“But, I’m not human,” he sobbed into the cloth. He finally sat down, unable to stand, phsyically and emotionally. Xharem sat on her haunches crossing her forelimbs in a very undragon like manner.

“Neither am I.”

“But I infiltrated the school, the kingdom! that’s a crime!”

A few sparks flew from Xharem’s nostrils as she snorted

“Are you trying to make me change my mind? I don’t give a damn, laws are not objectively in the moral right” she said, sternly.

Yonah stopped crying.

“Professor?”

The dragon adjusted her stance, tensing her shoulders like a cat. she too was holding back anger, and fire licked at her lips.

“The ban on non-human students is enforced by stuffy old fools. If I gave them any credit I would say they are scared that anyone with more magic than a normal human would become greater wizards than themselves. But that’s not it.” A large puff of smoke escaped her jaws “They don’t consider non-humans to be worthy of wizardry, I’m not even a wizard, I just teach them. I wouldn’t even have this position if the academy heads centuries ago did not have their hearts set on building the new school on my mountain”

That was a lot to process. Xharem was angry, not at him, but for him. He didnt really have anything to say, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking “your… mountain?”

“Yes, I sold it to the academy back when I was younger and perhaps not as wise. But, one of my conditions was that I still get to live in the mountain, I still own my personal caves, and be given a permanent professorship at the school.”

“Maybe you were wiser back then than you give yourself credit for,” said Yonah, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, his tears no longer steam.

“Come on, let’s get some tea!” Xharem declared. it was another order, but one Yonah was pleased to follow.

—

“Where do you sleep at night? Surely you can’t be in your dorm if your spell wears off after three hours.”

Xharem poured out boiling hot tea. She almost waited until it cooled to pour a cup for Yonah. But realized that Boiling was probably how he preferred his tea as well. She also set out a plate of tea cakes.

Yonah took the scalding hot cup in his hands and drank deeply before it had time to lose any heat. It had been a long month and he hadn’t had a properly hot cup of tea the entire time. Too risky But now he had his tea.

And pastries! Dragon sized pastries. Which coincidentally were the proper size for him! It was rude of him to take one before answering the question but his stomach had no care for politeness at the moment.

With the warmth washing through him, his belly slowly filling with sugary dough products, and lets not forget secure and safe as his normal self for the first time since he arrived at the school, he finally felt a bit better.

“No, I’ve, I’ve been sneaking out and sleeping in the forest, I set up a camp a good ways up the mountainside”

The dragon’s eyes widened and she set her teacup down a bit forcefully.

“That won’t do, you’ll be found out eventually, someone will notice you sneaking off!”

/yeah my friends already do… and they notice i’m hungry all the time because I can’t eat enough…/

To distract himself Yonah took another tea cake. He must have been eating them too eagerly.

Xharem sipped at her tea and frowned. Or rather brought in her frill and folded her ears. A dragon frown.

“And food? Just because you can shrink does not mean your body requires less sustenance,” she said, “I assume.”

Yonah nodded, swallowing the one cake and reaching for another. He paused his hand. Xharem nodded permission.

“My mother’s a ranger. She taught me to hunt; to survive in the forest. So I’ve been hunting at night.”

He ate the cake.

“And how successful have your hunts been?”

Avoiding her eyes he reached for yet another pastry. She had given him permission to eat, so he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

“I thought so.”

She closed her eyes and sat motionless for several minutes. Except for her Frill, which slowly fanned open and closed in time with her breathing. The steam from the near boiling tea sucking into her nostrils.

She sighed and opened her eyes.

“I have an offer for you, Yonah, and I do hope you take it,”

As he waited for her to continue, Yonah took a big gulp of tea to wash down the sticky cake. It was getting a little cold so he pumped a bit of heat into it. It had also been a while since he used any of his fire. Not even out in the woods lest it give him away. He now realized how abnormal it had felt, holding back.

“You will be my personal ward, and live in my caves.”

The gears in his mind froze as if gummed up by toffee. Had he heard that right?

“Live… Wait ward?”

This was too good to be true.

“You are aware that it is customary for dragons to kidnap Royal children. To keep them around to cook and clean and work for them? It will be like that. It’s been ages since I had a prince or princess”

“I’m not royalty” said Yonah, his mind trying to move at the speed of light but the photons kept getting stuck in molasses. “And you didn’t kidnap me.”

She made a hrrumph noise and got up to pace around the cave.

“Again you’re getting bogged down in arbitrary rules and tradition!” her tail whipped around, thudding against the wall and floor. “No you’re not of royal blood and you won’t be expected to cook, the kitchen staff already do a wonderful job, but you will be cleaning, sorting, and organizing my things. And once you’re trained up a bit assist me in lectures, grade assignments, help me write exams, and such. In return you get fed properly, and have a room you can fit in that is safe from prying eyes!”

Yonah’s heart was about to explode. Instead a veritable stream of water fell from his eyes.

“Are you alright?” Xharem sat on her haunches. Even after hundreds of years, still didn’t fully understand human emotional responses. So she was less confident about those of half giant fire witches.

“Yes, im. I’m a’ight” said Yonah, gathering his composure, “if it’s not too much to ask, why are you doing this for me? You barely know me.”

“Think of it as… non-human solidarity, but remember, my generosity isn’t free. You work for me now. And you’ll have to furnish your cave on your own, so unless you can conjure a mattress, you’re sleeping on stone tonight.”

Without warning And definitely without thinking it through, Yonah hugged the professor. He’d hugged dragons before, he knew where to wrap his arms.

Xharem was taken aback. She had NEVER been hugged in her entire life! Dragons aren’t made for hugging each other. It scared her, being locked in an embrace, the only methods of escape involved maiming the other party. It felt really strange, the half-giant’s soft plush body held onto her sharp scaley one. It was… nice. But also a bit awkward and she tried to gently shove Yonah away after half a minute. He obliged.

With the tea finished and Yonah exhausted from both the school day and the emotional rollercoaster of the last hour, Xharem led Him to an empty cave. An unused storage room. Semi-Oval shaped, the highest it got was 30 feet, enough room for Yonah to stand.

Even on the hard ground Yonah drifted off to sleep easily. He didn’t have the best night’s sleep. However, with a roof over his head, no worries of discovery, and his stomach full of cake he did have the least fretful one since before arriving at the school.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading PLEASE COMMENT!


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